Publication Number: FHWA-HRT-2006-003

Communication Product Updates

Compiled by Zac Ellis of FHWA's Office of Research and Technology Services

Below are brief descriptions of products recently published online by the Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA) Office of Research, Development, and Technology. Some of the publications also may be available from the National Technical Information Service (NTIS). In some cases, limited copies are available from the Research and Technology (R&T) Product Distribution Center.

When ordering from NTIS, include the NTIS publication number (PB number) and the publication title. You also may visit the NTIS Web site at www.ntis.gov to order publications online. Call NTIS for current prices. For customers outside the United States, Canada, and Mexico, the cost is usually double the listed price. Address requests to:

Address requests for items available from:

For more information on research and technology publications from FHWA, visit the Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center's (TFHRC) Web site at www.tfhrc.gov, FHWA's Web site at www.fhwa.dot.gov, the National Transportation Library's Web site at http://ntl.bts.gov, or the OneDOT information network at http://dotlibrary.dot.gov.

The Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) identified a section of I-40 east of downtown Knoxville as a candidate for major rehabilitation. In 2004, TDOT considered various strategies to perform the needed roadwork, keeping in mind construction costs, project duration, and potential impacts on road users. Using QuickZone, TDOT officials studied the likelihood of significant congestion under the proposed full closure option by presenting a quick prediction based on current traffic volumes.

The document is available online at www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/operations/05142/index.cfm. Free printed copies are available from the R&T Product Distribution Center.

Maintaining roadway capacity is an important aspect in the ongoing project to replace the Woodrow Wilson Bridge in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area. Project engineers used QuickZone to analyze multiple scenarios for extending the duration of lane closures and the number of lanes closed.

The document is available online at www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/operations/05142/index.cfm. Free printed copies are available from the R&T Product Distribution Center.

In the spring of 2001, a major structural rehabilitation project started on the Little Bras d'Or Bridge in Nova Scotia, Canada. Public concern and political pressure advocated rescheduling the work for November of that year. Transportation officials used QuickZone to analyze various staging scenarios and ultimately demonstrated that delaying the work until November, using the same traffic control strategies, would still result in unacceptable motorist delays.

The document is available online at www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/operations/05142/index.cfm. Free printed copies are available from the R&T Product Distribution Center.

In 2001, the intersection of Reeves Street and Trunk 4 in Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia--along a key access route to the Trans-Canada Highway--was slated to be upgraded. Under the original traffic control plan, the intersection operated 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Under these conditions, QuickZone predicted a queue up to a 6.5 kilometers (4.1 miles) long and 70 minutes of delay.

The document is available online at www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/operations/05142/index.cfm. Free printed copies are available from the R&T Product Distribution Center.

Yosemite National Park in California is one of the most popular national park destinations in the Nation, averaging more than 9,000 visitors each day throughout the year. Because of the shape of Yosemite Valley, public access to the park is quite limited. As of August 2004, officials had not come to a final decision about the timing or phasing of the work. However, the time and effort invested in data collection and QuickZone analysis had a marked impact on shaping the planned work to minimize impacts on park visitors while finding effective ways to reduce project duration and costs.

The document is available online at www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/operations/05142/index.cfm. Free printed copies are available from the R&T Product Distribution Center.

In 2004, a major rehabilitation of the main road through Zion National Park in Utah was scheduled to take place. Transportation officials used QuickZone to estimate the length of the anticipated queue and the number of vehicles in the queue during the peak tourist months of June, July, August, September, and October.

The document is available online at www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/operations/05142/index.cfm. Free printed copies are available from the R&T Product Distribution Center.

The Central Federal Lands Highway Division (CFLHD) has been working with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Service and the National Park Service to reconstruct a 30-kilometer (18.6-mile) section of the scenic Beartooth Highway in Montana. In planning the work, CFLHD officials relied on QuickZone's capability to estimate the cumulative delay a motorist would likely encounter from a series of work zones, including localized bottlenecks, flagging operations, and periodic full closures.

The document is available online at www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/operations/05142/index.cfm. Free printed copies are available from the R&T Product Distribution Center.

Louis Lake Road is located in Fremont County, WY, and links the town of Lander and the Shoshone National Forest. The one-lane gravel road with turnouts was deemed narrow, unsafe, and inadequate for expected increases in traffic as more visitors are drawn to the area. Transportation officials used QuickZone to estimate the delay a traveler would face during flagging operations of different lengths and capacities.

The document is available online at www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/operations/05142/index.cfm. Free printed copies are available from the R&T Product Distribution Center.

The purpose of the Handbook for Expert/Peer Reviews is to provide guidance for participants in the TFHRC Laboratory Assessment Process. The primary audience for the handbook is members of the panels serving to review a laboratory. The handbook acquaints panel members with the process and expectations associated with their involvement in the review. The handbook also is a useful source of information about the reviews for laboratory managers and staff as well as the customers and stakeholders of the laboratories being reviewed.

The document is available online at www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/general/05033/index.cfm. Free printed copies are available from the R&T Product Distribution Center.

Because of the speed with which in-vehicle information system (IVIS) devices are entering the automotive marketplace, many research issues associated with the design of in-vehicle visual symbols and other information elements have not been adequately addressed. The overall goal of the project was to provide the designers of in-vehicle technologies with a set of guidelines for display icons and other information elements. Specific objectives included the following:

• Design and perform experimentation to select appropriate symbols for in-vehicle use and use the resulting data to write final guidelines for in-vehicle symbol usage, encompassing both current and future symbols
• Write preliminary and empirically based final guidelines

The key product is a set of clear, concise, and user-centered, human-factor guidelines for designing in-vehicle icons. The 42 guidelines address issues such as the legibility, recognition, interpretation, and evaluation of graphical and text-based icons and symbols. Further, they provide IVIS developers with key information regarding the use and integration of existing and new visual symbols. In addition, guidelines are provided for the design of in-vehicle auditory information.

The document is available online at http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/safety/03065/index.cfm. Free printed copies are available from the R&T Product Distribution Center. Printed copies also may be purchased from NTIS. The NTIS number is PB2005-105411.

This report describes the results of an effort to validate and calibrate motor vehicle crash models for rural intersections. Both the validation and recalibration activities were conducted in pursuit of one primary research objective, which was to improve an existing set of statistical models for predicting crashes at two- and four-lane intersections, with the intent to facilitate use in the Interactive Highway Safety Design Model.

The researchers drew conclusions and made recommendations for five types of intersection models: (1) three-legged, stop-controlled intersections of two-lane roads; (2) four-legged, stop-controlled intersections of two-lane roads; (3) three-legged, stop-controlled intersections with two lanes on a minor road and four lanes on a major road; (4) four-legged, stop-controlled intersections with two lanes on a minor road and four lanes on a major road; and (5) signalized intersections of two-lane roads.

The document is available online at www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/safety/03037/index.cfm. Free printed copies are available from the R&T Product Distribution Center.